Food insecurity and public realm challenges
Public safety and lack
of food access collide
Foodscape work in action
Shifting youth’s behaviours
Food related challenges are not always about food
Every city has unique characteristics related to climate, history, culture, urban and ecological environment, and local food challenges. Despite this, Gehl and Cities Changing Diabetes have been able to identify common patterns and challenges across diverse foodscape project sites. Central to these is the reality that food related challenges are often a symptom of historic disinvestment in marginalised communities. In any project, it is critical to understand if and how disinvestment has created conditions that make it challenging to access healthy food.
Poor mobility & infrastructure limit food access
A high-quality public realm isn’t just a nice to have — it’s essential. Daily patterns like long commutes are a major barrier to buying and carrying groceries home. In Philadelphia, obstacles in the public realm added an extra 5 minutes to the already long walk to the grocery store.
Without invitations to stay, people choose unhealthy options
The lack of invitations to eat in and around public spaces often encourages people to choose a faster, and often unhealthy, easy-to-eat meal.
Transit hubs are key to influencing food behaviours
Transit hubs are moments and spaces where people choose what's most available to them. In London, 75% of all teenagers observed in public space were spending time at a bus stop — most of which are near fast food options.
Cross project learnings
Real and perceived lack of safety limit food access
Car and parking dominance, street widths, and crime all impact people’s decisions and abilities to access food. In Houston, a majority of the people we spoke to said they did not feel safe as a pedestrian and that this impacted where they got their food.
The urban environment can influence diets as much as cost
Cost poses a major challenge for many to access healthy food in their neighbourhoods. However, in Bogotá, community members identified a combination of public space related residents face when trying to eating healthy.
The best strategies build on existing community work
Most cities have a contingency of emergency food, civic programs, and religious institutions that serve food to those in need. It is essential to know who is on the ground and build upon their work to ensure the social sustainability of interventions.